v 



SPEECH OF GEN. J. P. C. SHANKS, 

ON TREATMENT OE PRISONERS OF WAR, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



Grand Army of the RepiMk', Washinr/ton, D. (J., March 19, 1870, in 
i^^ / pursuance of the foUowivf/ order : 



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Headquarters U. S. Grant Post No. li:, 

\l Department Potomac, G. A. R., 3Iarch 15, 1870. 

lu accordance with an order from National Headquarters, directing that 

a member of the Post be detailed at each meeting to relate reminiscences of 

the late war, General J. P. C. Shanks is hereby appointed to deliver an 

address before this Post on the I'Jth of March, 1870, " On Prison Life in the 

South." 

J. PI. Stine, Commander. 



My Felloiv-ciuzcns and Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic : 

It alfords nie much pleasure to see you this evening. I am most 
liappy to meet General Schenck, who presides over our deliberations at 
this time, and whose name is as familiar to you as a household word. 1 
am peculiarly reminded of the past by these surroundings. From Gen- 
eral Schenck's headquarters I went to those of General Sherman, in 
whose briijade, on the 21st of July, 1861, I fought my first battle, at 
Bull Kun.' 

Near me, also, are other men whose presence recalls, in most fervent 
recollection, the days of the war. Governor Morton, of whom I received 
my first commission; General Eakin, who gave me my first regimental 
Hag for the Seventh Indiana cavalry; Lieutenant Hanson, formerly my 
sergeant major, who carried it to my regiment; and Lieutenant Lee Ro)- 
Woods, my adjutant general whilst I commanded the first brigade, 
cavalry division of Western Tennessee, are all present to hear me. 
These are indeed pleasant surroundings, and seem to clothe the past Avith 
a living, acting present, and to revive the war, with its trials, sufferings 
and successes. These reflections, together ndth the well-chosen and 
finely-delivered narrative by General Packard, so fully occupied my time 
and thoughts as to draw my mind from the work assigned me. jNIy 
speech is merged in, if not lost by contact with, the picture you have set 
before mo. As a soldier, however, it is my duty strictly to obey orders, 
and as^, ^ to address you, 1 will proceed so to do. 

MV chis evening is one of painful remembrance, and I can 

only/ ,0 find a welcome in its rehearsal hero, in the fact t]iat ny,' 




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1 

audience, as ucll a.s iny::cll', iit)\v f njoy the ])riee of" the service of tliosc 
whom I. shall speak of, in the free exercise of the privilege of assembling 
to hear me tell of those Avho suffered in, and of those who v/ ere sacrificed 
for, the cause of our common country and our general liberties. 

I fully believe that your generosity now is equal to the patriotism you 
have ever disj)layed, and that your sympathies continue to go out and 
pay a just tribute at the shrine of a common and honorable friendship. 
This encourages me to believe that you will patiently listen to a brief 
history of your suffering and fallen comrades. 

I shall speak this evening of Union prisoners of war; of men wdio 
suffered the privations of camp and march and battle-field, in common 
with all their comrades in arms, and yet to whom, in the dark hours of 
the rebellion, as incident to their service, there were meted out the still 
more severe afflictions of capture and imprisonment, by those "whose 
hearts were steeled to barbarity by th.e cries of the orphans and the tears 
)f the M'idows they had made," in the cruel exercise of that system of 
-slavery, in itself so unnatural, and yet to which they were so closely 
wedded, as well as in the treason, rebellion, and bloody internecine 
■struggle in which they hurled their country and kindred in defense of 
this monstrous oppression, whose very support demanded, as a pre- 
requisite, the abandonment of those ])urer habits of manner and thought 
that always mark the good man, and an entrance upon that liighway to 
crime and inhumanity which is but the correlative of the original iniquity 
it sustains. 

I come, to speak to you (in obedience to the orders of our post com- 
mander) of those prisoners of war cai)tured by the rebel authorities 
during the late rebellion, aiul confined by them in the prison housos, 
stockades and camps of the confederacy, either improvised or s})ecially 
constructed for and dedicated to that purpose; the cotemporary history 
of Mhich spreads a pall upon the fair fame of our nation Avholly incon- 
sistent with the Christian civili;aition of the age and country, and which, 
considering the nature of our government, tin; spirit, material, mental 
and moral progress of the times, has no explanation aside from the prac- 
tices and teachings of that system of human slavery in which was engen- 
dered and from Avhich was li)orn the very rebellion against law, liberty, 
country and kindred, in the j)rosecution of wliich these (!aptures and 
imprisonments were made, and for its success deliberate cruelties per{)e- 
tratcd on defenseless men, in open violation of law and without necessity, 
and which can but meet with your unqualified condemnation. 

I take it that no truly brave man was ever himself cruel or counten- 
anccd cruelty in otliers. I have said truly brurc, because there is a 
species of dash and daring, spasmodic in its exhibition, that men some- 
times possess, generally the outgrowth of passion, ol\en built on preju- 
judicc, and so closely allied to bravery that wc may mistake it. lint 
there is this never-failing test rule : Such men arc altcai/s cruel wlten the 
^^angcr is 'past and they are left in ■power. This spirit is the author of 
mobs and finisher of murders. It plots treason, and induces others to 
fight the battles it provokes. It makes loud demonsti'atioua of patriot- 



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ism and piety, and then meanly abandons both. This spirit fanned the 
fires of the rebellion into a flame, and led a much better people than its 
possessors into the meshes of its follies and the fearful consequences of 
its mistakes. It is this damned spirit that ever plants itself between 
unsuspecting innocence and genuine manhood, enticing the one from its 
duty and embarrassing the other with its treacherous importunities. 

And again, there is a bravery of man much superior to this. It is 
based on honest ignorance of the real facts by those who engage iii a 
cause they do not understand, but for the support of Avhich they are im- 
pelled, through a simple devotion to what they have been misled to esteem 
a duty, and often mistaken by them for patriotism, and, with this hon- 
esty of ]iurpose, risk all to defeat that object for which they professedly 
fight. These are the deluded victims of the former. Such was the con- 
dition of a very large proportion of the poorer people of the South at 
the commencement of the late war. From this class came those soldiers 
whose bravery you have tested on so many fields. They, however, were 
seldom cruel. I pause here to pay to them this tribute and point to you 
this oasis in the desert of that moral turpitude which was founded in 
slavery, necessary for its support and defense, and which so foully and 
fearfully misled its followers during the four bloody years of the war, 
and thoroughly controlled the confederate authorities, and through them 
all the officers and men they could manipulate by their perfidy or com- 
pel by their power. It is at the door of the confederate government I lay 
the charge of wanton and savage cruelty to helpless prisoners of war, 
while the proof to justify this charge is ample and conclusive. 

Preparatory to a better understanding let me run briefly over some 
matters that lie between me and the special work of this evening. 

All nations rise through much tribulation. Indeed, the raising of a 
family is often embarrassed with many trials and difficulties — much 
more so the conflicting interests of the people of a great nation, both 
at home and abroad. 

Of national conflicts and internal and external troubles peculiar to 
growing powers, ancient Greece furnishes the first grand and at the 
same time well-authenticated example; but she has gone down long 
since (a victim to internecine v/ar) from her once high estate, until at 
this time, in her second rising, she helplessly pleads with her stronger 
but mercenary Christian neighbors to save her from the Musselman who 
destroyed her, and whom, strangely enough, they j^roteet in his oppres- 
sions. But these powers are the same ones that held up the shattered 
prospects of the rebellion, with its cruelties to our prisoners of war, for 
long years after it would have yielded to the prowess of your arms, but 
for that unjustifiable and untimely aid rendered in the support of slavery 
and the interests of oppression, and for the only and especial purpose of 
destroying this free government and the erection of a monarchy v/hero it 
republic luid been. This, however, your bravery alone defeated. 

Rome, founded by brothers, soon witnessed the murder of the one by 
the other, but subsequently followed Greece to national flime and mili- 
tary renown, amid the conquering of provinces and the carnage of h 



tlioiisaiid battles that originated from internal and external strife. Bnt 
she, t(X), has gone down, Icariully down, and oven now rises slowly ironi 
the ashes of her desolation. 

A}\ Germany holds her liberties at the expense of the blood am; treas- 
ure of her people. 

SM'itzerland — republican little SwitzerJand — liid like an eagle in the 
mountains, watches her enemies, and has, by the bravery of her sons and 
the rocky and icy fastnesses of her situation, del]c<l the oppressors. Her 
very poverty makes her strong. 

France has gone up through bloodshed, from cluu'ch and state, until 
cvcny acre of her soil has been made to drink the blood of her (nvn 
children. But France is to-day a sleeping political volcano. 

vSpain — poor, jjriest-ridden Spain — has had no rest. Her })eople, not 
willing to be just, are continually rending each other. The Moorish 
contests, which enixrossed her sovereiGcns when Columbus asked aid to 
his discoveries, terminated; but the iniquities and severities of the In- 
quisition poisoned and maddened her people, and corrupt Bourbon mis- 
rule has left them to-day powerless to safely conduct the rebellion they 
have commenced in favor of their own liberties, while her Cuban })rov- 
inces boldly contend with her armies and embarrass and weaken her 
treasury. 

Even England, our hjq^othetical mother, has had her multiplied do- 
mestic and foreign conflicts. The Roman, Danish and Saxon invasions 
present an interesting page of her history. Scotland long successfully 
resisted a union, and Ireland is but a conquest; while Canada, the East 
Indian possessions and A ustralia consult their convenience and interest in 
their political relations, ^yar has been the common property of Eng- 
land, and even at the present day her wisest administration can scarcely 
meet and manage the growing spirit of disaffection among her people 
(arising from an increasing knowledge of our free institutions) which 
atfects her society as the currents in the ocean that flow from our coast 
disturb the waters that surround her islands. 

Our example has been caught up by the peoples of all Europe. A 
growing sense of their own worth and power has made them bold ; so 
that to-day all her monarchs sit uneasily on their thrones, and yield, 
without resistance, to the demands of their subjects. 

Russia's Czar, in the peaceable liberation of the serfs of his dominion, 
did, by a wise sense of justice and true statesmanship, that which, ])rior 
to March, 1861, our treasonable officials and badly-managed government 
opposed, and provoked a great rebellion to prevent in this country. 

Japan has opened her ports to advancing civilization, and China, 
locked up from the world for thousands of years, chose an American to 
treat ibr her with all nations. The Turk and the Moor have learned to 
regard Christian powers and their commerce and people Avith ros])cct. 

Very much of this, and more than I could tell you in years of time, 
is due to the spirit of liberty and progress fostered and ])rotected under 
our constitution and laws. The ])rinciples this government cnuncialed 
and established in the revolution of 177G ; sustained and expanded by 



tho war of 1812, and grandly cleansed, redeemed and reconstructed by 
the contest of 1861, it now in truth maintains, (but which had too long 
been a mockery,) that this is "The land of the free and the home of the 
brave." 

But in all this let us read the spirit of progress in a better system of 
religious civilization than that of the ancients, and the means of educat- 
ing the people, with which there is in past times no comparison. It is a 
great privilege to live in this age ; and let us profit by the opportunity 
afforded us. 

The spirit of material progress is sometimes turned back, as in the 
fall of Greece and Rome; or held at bay, as in Spain, Russia, Brazil, 
and the southern States of this Union, by slavery and oppression ; yet 
it gains strength and faith in its small successes, laying, now here and 
now there, a foundation, deep, broad and hopeful, that in time will, as 
it has in all these countries, burst its barriers and disseminate its bless- 



ings anions: men. 



Comrades : Permit me to say to you, that in the solution of the prob- 
lem of free government in America the hopes of the lovers of liberty 
in the whole civilized world are now concentrated. On your success in 
the late rebellion the fate of civilization turned as a door on its hinges, 
and without that success liberty would have had no homo or abiding- 
place. Just men in every land prayed for your triumph. Had you 
failed, the scenes of the dark ages of Europe and Western Asia, when 
eastern hordes of uncivilized and prejudiced men overrun those coun- 
tries, would have been re-enacted, only that the South and North would 
have taken the place of the Orient and Occident, the Potomac become 
our Hellespont and the lakes our Mediterranean, and the name of this 
AVashington, like that ancient Byzantium, been changed to suit the con- 
<jucror's taste. 

The glories of your successes are not now fully known and appreciated. 
History alone can do you justice. When time shall have determined 
the great value of the contest and measured the dangers of the hour, then, 
and not until then, M'ill the hardships endured, the treasure wasted, and 
the lives lost in that war be estimated at their true worth and the bless- 
ings of the achievement recognized by mankind. 

Comrades : We were engaged in a great war — a war in defense of the 
liberties of men, and to make permanent in this country that teaching 
which every man feels in his own judgment is from God, and exists in 
the very nature of things — that great truth adopted by our fathers as the 
basis of our government, and maintained by them in its organization — 
" That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator 
with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness." These natural rights no one may dispose of 
himself, and no one may take them from him. They are the gift of 
God, and he alone may take them. 

But I have said it was a war of defense. It may seem strange that 
at this time in the nineteenth century of the Christian era, in this great 
government, established on the broad principles of that declaration made 



6 

eighty-four years prior to the treasonable attack on Fort Sumter, I 
should not be able to say it was a war of vindication. But we should 
remember that the whole nation, through its Congresses and its Presi- 
dents, bowed in humble humility before that monstrous criminal assump- 
tion, and that the government its(>lf, by its laws, whieli were sustained 
by the majority of a court whose judges, tottering alike upon the verge 
of the grave and a growing imbecility, protected slavery as of original 
right, antidating constitutions and the people's will, permitted and de- 
fended slavery in this capital of the Ee])ublic. Remembering that the foot 
of the slave in his servitude trod on tiie same marble where our states- 
men and heroes stood to sjicak of liberty and law; that our flag, carried 
in triumph over so many battle- iields, v/aived over every slave mart as 
well ; that the honor of America was tarnished by the record of the 
sales, in open market, of human beings — of marriages ruthlessly broken 
for gain — of children orphaned and wives widowed for money — of 
churches for the worship of God built from the proceeds of the labor ot 
slaves, and the sales of its members to hopeless bondage by their fellow- 
worshippers; of laws sanctioning those enormities ; with a public press 
that, with few exceptions, kissed the feet of the vv'orkers of these iniqui- 
ties; and material, moral and mental progress thus made to stand still 
before this giant evil; learn these truths, and then admit, with me, that 
ours was in very truth a war oi' defense, and not of vindication. Indeed, 
the spirit of the attack was with your enemies. The liberty of the slave 
is a 7-e,mlt of the war, not the purpose either of the original attack or ol 
the defense against it. In that contest you were among the actors. 
Those of your comrades who form the subject of my remarks entered 
the service with you. iMany of them were mustered into it who were 
never mustered out only as their names were stricken from the rolls ot 
the living soldier to be entered upon those of the dead. This, too, will 
bo our fate — not in prison, I may fondly hope; not in battle, I believe; 
and not in hospital, I trust; but yet it will be. Shall we die as honora- 
bly as they ? We cannot die more so. Shall it be as well? Those who 
have fallen died with their honors thick upon them. Those v/ho lived 
may tarnish their fame with other deeds. 

The action of the several States of the confederacy withdrawing from 
their relations with the Union, so far as such acts could do, generally 
preceded the attack on Fort Sumter, April 12, 18;31, which was recog- 
nized by the government as the commencement of the war, and which 
practically terminated with the surrender of Lee and Johnson, but is by 
proclamation of the President legally fixed on August 6, 186G. 

Our government had in the field during the rebellion three distinct 
bodies of troops : 1st, volunteers; 2d, colored volunteers; 3d, regular 
army. The greater portion of the volunteer ibrccs, white and colored, 
were enlisted for three years, though there were, at the beginning and 
near the close of the war, three months' men, one hundred days' men, 
and some for one and two years. 

There were issued during the war to volunteer officers 124,597 com- 
missions; many of these were reappointments and promotions. It has 



been thought practical to reduce these figures to a three years' basis, 
and upon that I submit the follovring statement, showing the -whok' 
number of Federal officers and soldiers in service during the rebellion of 
1861— 'G5, compiled from tlie records of the Adjutant General's office: 

Commissioned officers, white 83,935 

Commissioned officers, colored i) 

Enlisted men, white 2,073,112 

Enlisted men, colored 178,89") 

Aggregate 2,33.'3,9.".l 

There was not this number in service at any one time ; but I have 

given the aggregate of commissions and enlistments for the whole time. 

The population in 1860 was 31,445,080, of whom 3,953,760 were slaves. 

The whole number of enlistments of officers and men in the revokition- 

ary army of 1776 was 230,000 continental soldiers and 56,000 militia ; 

the British forces sent to oppose them were 112,584 regulars and 22,000 

seamen. The whole population of the colonies at that time was 2,803,000, 

of whom 500,000 were slaves. 

The losses to our array in the late rebellion may be classed as follows: 

1. Killed in action. 

2. Died of wounds received in action. 

3. Died of disease. 

4. Died from other known causes. 

5. Died from unknown causes. 

1. KILLED IN ACTION. 

Officers of white troops 3,696 

White officers, colored troops 9] 

Officers regular army 93 

General officers 51 

Total officers 3 981 

. White volunteers 37,531 

Colored volunteers 1,514 

Eegular army 1,262 

40,307 

Grand total 44,238 

2. DIED or WOUNDS EECEIVED IN ACTION. 

Commissioned officers of white troops 1 914 

White officers, colored troops ' 46 

Regular army officers 56 

General officers 32 

Commissioned officers, prisoners of war 21 

Total officers 2,069 

White volunteers 29,350 

Colored volunteers 1,035 

Regular army 794 

White prisoners of war 743 

Colored prisoners of war 2 

ui,./_-t 

Grand total , 33,99;; 



The luimhor who wore killed iii action or died of woiind»; received 
there ag!2;rc!i;ate exactly 0,000 commissioned officers and 74,'jOO enlisted 
(lien, inakinu; in all 80, .'100 brave men. (Ilorions ei<^hty thousand three 
hundred. The American people should plant evergreen« upon your 
graves and water them with tears of sorrow for your fall. It is due 
here to say that Congress ])rovided a fund to enable th« War Di'j)art- 
ment to gather, from all places where they could be traced, tko bodies 
of our fallen comrades, and under its excellent management they have 
been raised for more decent interment in graves prepared for that pur- 
pose in well-assigned and closely-guarded cemeteries. 

3. DIED OF DISEASE. 

Volunteer officers, Avliite troops 1,.'J7S 

White officers, eolored troojis S!) 

Officers regular army 112 

(jieneral officers liil 

White officers, prisoners of war :Ii' 

Colored officers, prisoners of war 1 

Total officers 1,72:5 

White volunteers l().3,!i!)o 

Colored volunteers 2(5, 201 

Enlisted men, regular army 2,;]lfi 

White prisoners of war 12,S08 

Colored prisoners of war 10 

147,.{20 

Grand total 14i»,o4;; 

Many, indeed most of these, had served in battle, but after ])assing 
safely through the dangers of the field, fell in that much more danger- 
ous spot, an army hospital. 

Comrades : If this melancholy mortuary record could stop here, 1 
would congratulate you that, severe though it was, it was not too much 
for what it saved to mankind. Nor do I intend to say that all it tiid 
cost was not well spent. But when we are traveling on a long journey, 
in which sorrows and misfortunes are j)rcssing us on every hand, the miles 
seem lengthened and their numbers multi[)lied. So it is with this recital. 
But it cannot stop here. On and on it goes with numbers added pain- 
ful to contemplate ; yet it is just to consider, and worthy our closest 
attention and most solemn and sacred respect and remembrance. 

4. DIED FKO^I OTHER KNOWN CAUSES. 

Volunteer officers, white troops o59 

Officers regular army (! 

(ieneral ofticers o 

White officers, prisoners of war 18 

Total officers ;'.SS 

White volunteers 10,420 

(''nlisted inen, regular army 102 

White prisoners of war 844 

C>*lored i)risoners of war 1 

Il,4"i7 

Ci rand total 11,84-j 



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Nor is this all that death deinanded. We now enter upon the iifth 
record, more dismal and drear. Such cases occurring in our neighbor- 
hood touch us with sorrow. This record has awakened in me a feeling 
of deep sorrow. It is of those who 

5. DIED FROM UNKNOWN CAUSES. 

White volunteer officers 1,09G 

White otHeers, colored trooiis 58 

Commissioned officers, prisoners of war 49 

Total officers 1,203 

White volunteers H7,S6() 

Colored volunteers 4,552 

Enlisted men, re,<!:ular army 28 

White prisoners of war 11,589 

Colored prisoners of war 65 

54,094 

Grand total 55,297 

Thus the mortuary records of the Union army may be summed uj). 

Between the 12th day of April, 1861, and the 3()th day of i\pril, 18G0, 

being four years and eighteen days, there were — 

Killed in action 44,238 

Died of wounds received in action 33,993 

Died of disease 149,043 

Died of other known eauses 11,845 

Died of unknown causes 55,297 

Making 9,314 commissioned officers and 285,102 enlisted men; in all, 
294,416 martyrs to civil and religious liberty and equal rights to all 
persons before the laws— a terrible martyrdom, but voluntarily made. 
It has been said that ''the blood of the martyr is the seed of the church." 
It may be as truthfully asserted that the blood of these martyrs is the 
seed of the republic. 

Comrades : This day our glorious banner, with its stripes and stars 
unsullied and undiminished, floats to the breeze in the full light of 
Heaven, with every stain of nationalized oppression washed out of it in 
the warm life-blood of the nation's devoted children, who became a vol- 
untary sacrifice for her honor and defense. 

The deaths in the Union army may properly be classed by the char- 
acter of the troops in this way: 

Officers. Privates. Total. 

Volunteer 8,M3 221,151 229,594 

Colored troops (white officers) 284 33,302 33,580 

Regular army 267 4,592 4,859 

General Officers 209 209 

Prisoners of war, white 11-8 36,015 36,133 

Prisoners of war, colored 1 78 79 

Citizen prisoners of war 189 

Passing from these general statistics to speak of the personal treatment 
of prisoners of war by the rebel authorities, I will first give you : 

1. The number of Union prisoners captured by the rebels. 

2. Those who died in captivity. 

3. Those legally paroled and exchanged. 



r,092 



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4. Tliose illegally paroled. 

5. Those who escaped. 
G. Those recaptured by our forces. 
7. Those who abandoned our flag and jouied the rebel army. 

1. NUMDER OF UNION PRISONERS CAPTURED BY THE REBELS. 

Commissioned officers of white troops 7,007 . 

Commissioned officers of colored troops 85 

Colored prisonei's, enlisted 737 

Wliite prisoners, enlisted 178,354 

179,091 

Citizen prisoners 1,9G2 

Aggregating- 188,145 

To whicii siiould he added, (see mortuary records) 10,073 

Grand total 198,218 

The Secretary of War suggested that the number of deaths, as drawn 
from the books to the date of his report, March 1, 1869, being 2G,328, 
was too small by twenty per cent, on that amount. But it fully justifies 
the increase to thirty-eight y>cy cent, on his figures, for the reason that 
the burial parties sent by the War Department have discovered, raised, 
and reinterred 36,401 bodies of Union prisoners of war in the sixty- 
eight places of burial ; and even this number should be increased, as the 
records, when completed, will show. At least this number cannot be too 
large, though it may be too small. 

2. THOSE WHO DIED IN CAPTIVITY, 

Commissioned officers, white 118 

Commissioned officers, colored 1 



iiy 



Enlisted men, white 30,015 

Enlisted men, colored 78 

Citizens 189 

3G,2S2 

Total, (as shown by mortuary records) 36,401 

3. THOSE LEGALLY PAROLED AND EXCHxVNGED. 

Commissioned officers, white troops 6,444 

Commissioned officers, colored troops 35 

0,479 

147,851 



Enlisted men, white 146,103 

Enlisted men, colored 201 

Citizen prisoners 1,547 



Total 154,330 

4. THOSE ILLEGALLY PAROLED. 



Commissioned officers, white trooj^s 59 

Commissioned officer;-*, colored troops -46 

Enlisted men, white 821 

Citizens 217 



10^ 



1,038 

Total 1.143 



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5. THOSE WHO ESCAPED. 

Commissioned officers, white troops 394 

Commissioned ofFicers, colored troops 3 

» 397 

Enlisted men, white ". 2,273 

Enlisted men, colored 74 

Citizen prisoners 29 

2,370 



Total 2.773 

6. THOSE KECAPTURED BY OUR FORCES. 

Enlisted men, white 17 

Enlisted men, colored 384 



Total 401 

7. THE NUMBER V.^IIO JOINED THE ENEMY 

This brings me to the most unpleasant part of this record. It is to 
give you the number of those prisoners who, in the hour of their ex- 
tremity, abandoned our standard and joined the rebel army. Of these 
there were nine commissioned officers, and 3,1G1 enlisted white men, 
making in all 3,170. There was not one colored soldier who, while a 
prisoner of war, joined the enemy. It is just to state this, for, though 
uneducated, they were universally loyal, and could always be trusted to 
the full extent of their information. 

In treating upon the subject of Union prisoners joining the enemy, 
our censure should go out well seasoned with charity. We must not 
forget this was a civil war. Many Nortliern soldiers had friends and 
i-elatives in the South — fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters — and when 
captured were thrown amongst them, and thus induced to join the enemy. 
Again, many had been raised in the South, and were still laboring under 
those prejudices which attach to less informed men. Some were recently 
from foreign countries, not fixed in their devotion to either side of the con- 
test, and were more inclined to accept the one presenting at the time the 
fairest prospect; like a traveler caught in a storm, seeking the first shel- 
ter which offers him protection, with little inquiry as to title. With 
such persons the cruelties of rebel prisons would soon compel a choice. 
Proof is ample that the rebel authorities withheld food and fuel from the 
prisoners for days prior to making propositions to recruit from their 
ranks, and then would offer them plenty of food, fuel, pay, and clothing 
to join them, xit Florence they only sought to recruit Union prisoners 
of foreign birth, seeking for that very indifference to nationality thev 
hoped to find in them, and of which I have spoken. But let us re- 
member that the question of politics Avas carried into the raanao-emeut 
of all matters in the North ; that criminations and recriminations were 
dangerously common, and prejudices arising from this state of things, 
may have induced some who were not well-informed or stable in their 
views to more readily yield. It is. in proof that many joined the enemy 



12 



ns :i moans of escape from prison and captivity, believiiiii,- in their adver- 
sity tliat the end desired would justily the means to obtain it, so great 
were their sufferings, as is i'ully shown by the sworn and documentary 
testimony in my possession. There is a reason that, in connection with 
eitlier of these named, would strengthen them into cause, and standing 
alone must, when luiderstood, palliate, if not excuse this offence. It is 
the story of their hardships. If I could but paint it to you as hundreds 
of prisoners have testified to it before me, I would raise you from these 
s(!ats to curse the damned deeds. I would, if I could, call before your 
imaginations the gaunt, spectral forms of those tliousauds of robbed, 
frozen, starved, beaten, wounded, manacled, dogged, emaciated, neglected, 
crazed, and murdered men, to speak for themselves in the eloquent evi- 
dences of their cruel treatment^ to palliate their comrades' treason — 
though they more manfully and heroically died, refusing the offers. 
In the hour of their prej)ared calamities, kindness and |)lenty were 
offered the prisoners on condition of their treachery. These few accepted, 
while their comrades denounced the cowardly proposals, and chose to die 
at the hands of their persecutors rather than abandon their cause and 
country. This was the better course; and yet who of us may stand here 
to-night, in this pleasant room, well clothed and fed, fully protected by 
law, and coolly tell what w^as best for those who suffered as these men 
did. May God in his infinite mercy, look down with compassion on 
those prisoners who in their afflictions and weakness did this tiling. 



Union prisoners of war are buried, as shown by the rebel records 
other testimony, in sixty-eight places, the i^rincipal ones being as 
lows : 



AndcrsnniiUe, Gcorr/ia. 

Comniissioucd orticers 

l^iilisted men 

Citizen prisoners 

UnVinown 



Camp Ford, Texas. 

tlommisslonpd offl(;ers 

KnlistPdmen 

(litizon prisoners 



9 

12,f)0!) 

7'J 

61 S 

i;!,vo.'j 
1 

284 
1 



Florence, So>Uh Carolina. 

Oitizen prisoners 

Unknown 



Cahnirba, A lahaina. 

Enlisted men 

Citizen }>ri.soners 



and 
fol- 



I 

2,7!! I 
2,79.") 

142 

5 

117 



Chfirlcxtnn. Soiitli Carolina. 
Commissioned otiioei's. 



Marietta, Georgia. 

Coinmissioned officers 

Enlisted men 

Unknown 



Danville, Virginia. 

Commissioned officers '. 

Knlisted men 

(Citizen prisoners 



Atlanta, Georgia. 

Commissioned officers ". 

Knlisted men 



Millcn, Georgia. 

Commissioned ofllcers , 

I'^nlisted men 

( 'itizen ijrisoners, 



286 


Knlisted men 


219 




Oiti/.cn prisoners 


1 


8 


Unknown. . 


i;52 


HI 
•10 


31(1^0)1, Georgia. 
Coimiiis^ioiiocl officers. 




.'?89 


189 


1) 




Kiilisleil luoii 


223 


5 




4 


1.310 
2 


IVchmond, Virginia. 
Commissioned oniccrs 




2;i(! 


1,323 


29 


Knlistcil iiit^ii 


3,321 


S 


(^iti/-('ii i)risoners 


30 


116 


ITn IfiiOW'Il. 


70 




Montfiomcru, Alabama. 
Commissioned officers 




121 
1 


3,4o0 

1 


715 


Enlisted men 


79 


2 


Unknown 


lis 









748 



198 



13 



Salin/inn/, Xorth Carolina. 
< 'ommissioned ofiicers 2 


At the remaining .pfty-five places. 
Conmiissioued officers 


s 


.'unlisted men 14 


Enlisted men 


833 


< 'itizcu prisoners 02 


Citizen prisoners . 


2 


Uukuowu . 12 034 


Unknown . 


10 




ion prisoners buried. 
119 




12,112 

Whole number of Un 
f'onimissiouod oflicers 


853 


Enlisted men 


20 277 




(!itizcns 


189 




Unknown 


15 816 











Grand total 36,401 

The rebel prison records were bndl y kept, and it was only when Union 
soldiers were detailed to keep the mortality records of prisons, camps, 
and stockades that attention was paid to this important duty. The large 
juiinber of names preserved at Andersonville was the work of Darance 
Atwater and Mr, Walch, both detailed Union soldiers, prisoners of war 
.•'.t the time; so that out of 13,705 graves, all save 618 were designated. 
By the records of the prison at Salisbury, of 12,112 deaths, only 78 
names were jireserved so their graves could be designated. At Florence, 
of 2,795, only one grave can be designated, and that one the only citizen 
[)risoner who died there. Of the total 36,401 graves of Federal pris- 
oners <if war that have been discovered and the bodies properly buried, 
15,816, or near one-half of them, are necessarily marked "unknown," 
there being no record or distinctive marks by which the bodies may be 
identified. The number of graves found at these sixty-eight places of 
burial, and known to be those of Union prisoners of Avar, aggregate the 
number of 36,401, or 10,073 above the Secretary of War's statement of 
March 1, 1869, and is equal to thirty-eight per cent, added to that 
number. This must be the true estimate, since it is made from the 
graves and corpses actually discovered by tiie burial parties sent for the 
purpose of making these interments, and generally accompanied by per- 
sons who had witnessed the burials, very often by those who had been 
prisoners at the particular places. This record of burials, however, is a 
j)art of the report above referred to, and entitled to equal credit, and 
does not conflict with the Secretary's views that his first estimate is be- 
low the proper number, but fully sustains it. The ])rejudice against 
Union soldiers has kept a lively distinction between their graves and 
YohcX interments, so that the discovery is not difficult, though the name 
of the particular person may not be known. That the graves contain 
Union soldiers, is kept in hateful remembrance, but further than this 
the records are silent, and the Southern people do not care. 

This addition of 10,073 does not interfere with the stated numbers 
legally paroled and exchanged, illegally paroled, escaped, recaptured, or 
that joined the enemy, but only increases the whole numi)er captured by 
that amount. From all the facts in my possession gathered from the 
report of the Secretary of War ; the witnesses examined before tlie Com- 
mittee on Treatment of Prisoners of War ; the vast number of letters 
received by the committee from all parts of the country, touching the 
treatment of prisoners ; from the many narratives written on the same ; 
from th(! known character of their captors; the extent of country trav- 



14 

riled over ; their treatment Avliile on the way to prison ; and the concur- 
rent history of the times — I firmly believe that the number of deaths of 
Union prisoners exceeds the graves discovered to this time. 

The number of deaths and other casualties of Union officers and en- 
listed men during the war bears the following proportion to the whole 
number of the grades in service or in captivity : 

Killed in action : Oflleors — 1 in 21 in service; enlisted — 1 in 55. 

Killed and died of ^voluuls: Officers — 1 in 13 in service ; enlisted — 1 in 28. 

Captured: Officer;-;— 1 in 12 in service; enlisted— 1 in l;?. 

Died while i)risoners: Officers: 1 in (54 ; enlisted — lino; citizens— 1 in 10. 

Escaped from captivity : Officers- 1 in 18; enlisted — 1 in 76. 

Kecai)tured by our forces: Officers— none ; enlisted— 1 in 494. 

Prisoners who joined the enemy: Officers — 1 in 788; enlisted — 1 in 59. 

Total per cent, of deaths in tlie army : Officers — 1 in 9 ; enlisted — 1 in 8. 

Graves designated : one in two and one-third, being three in every 
seven, marked "unknown soldier." What a cold and desolate record oi 
human suffering! It must strike every one with astonishment that such 
diabolism with the dead bodies of brave men could in this age be prac- 
ticed even by their enemies. The grave should be a barrier to hatred, 
and only bad men pass its portals with malice. 

I will next give you a brief comparative history of the number of 
confederates captured by the Union forces and their treatment. 

CONFEDEKATE PRISONERS OF WAR. 

Officers. Enlisted men. Citizens. Total. 

Died 597 25,879 798 2G,774 

Paroled 22,297 225,472 830 248,599 

Exchanged 0,041 93,899 1,228 101,768 

Escaped 131 1,807 160 2,098 

Joined our Army 1 5,418 33 5,452 

Unaccounted for 74 2,988 22 3,084 

Released at close of war 6,041 71,889 10,464 88,394 

Total 35,782 426,852 13,535 476,169 

To this should be added 3,378, the number of graves as shown by the 
mortuaiy reports, in excess of the first estimate, making a total of 479,- 
547. In this case we also find the mortuary record exceeding the esti- 
mate of deaths from the other rolls. 

The confederate prisoners of war who died were 30,152, as shown by 
the mortuary records of the War Department, gathered from the eiglity- 
nine different places of interment at hospitals, forts, and prisons Avhere 
they were buried, and are stated thus : 

Officers 455 

Enlisted men 29,216 

Citizens 481 

Total 30,152 

Of these the names are kept and graves designated of 29,420, and 
names not kept of 726. Of this latter number 662 Avere at Alton, Illi- 
nois, leaving only 64 unknown at the remaining eighty-eight places. 
Why this neglect at Altoji I do not know; but it i.s reprehensible, and is 



15 






the only record in ali our responsibilities to be condemned. There 
were only 1,549 deaths of confederate prisoners at Alton prison^ and 
662 of these are marked "unknown." 

Rebel prisoners of war are buried, as shown by the Union records and 
other testimony, in eighty -nine places, the principal ones being as fol- 
lows : 



Alton, Illinois. 

Coinniissioned officers 

Enlisted men 

Unknown 



Cam}) Butler, Illinois. 

Enlisted men 

Unknown 



Camp Chase, Ohio. 

Conimissioned oiiicers 

F^nlistedmen 

Citizens 

Unlvnown 



Camp Douglass, Illinois. 

Enlisted men 

Unknown ..i 



Ci/})ris Hill, yew York. 

Comniissioned offlcerm 

Enlisted men : 



Elmira, New York. 

Conimissioned officers 

E;nlisledmen 

Citizens 



FinrCs Point, Xciv Jersey. 
Enlisted men 



Fori Dplanmre, Delaware. 

Commissioned officers 

Enlisted men 

Citizens 



Indianapolis, Indiana. 
Enlisted men 



NnJihrille, Tennessee. 

Commissioned officers 

Enlisted men 

Citizens 



7 
1,549 

2,218 

628 
16 

044 

12 

2,102 

48 

4 

2,163 

4.032 



4,039 

5 

483 

488 

1 

2,9.39 

26 

2,986 

1,434 

1,434 

71 

2,401 

41 

2,513 

1,556 

1,556 

29 

401 

36 

466 



Jefferson Barraclcs, Missouri. 
Enlisted men 



Point Lookout, Maryland. 

ftommissioned officers 

Enlisted men 

Citizens , 

Unknown 



Rock Island, Illinois. 

Commissioned officers 

Enlisted men 

Citizens 

Unknown 



;S?. Louis, (Benton Barracks,) Mo. 

Commissioned officers 

Enlisted men 

Citizens 



Washinrjton, D. C, 

Commissioned officers 

Enlisted men 

Citizens 

Unknown 



1,010 

1,010 

14 

3,383 

45 

4 

3,446 



1 

1,949 
6 
4 

1,960 

9 

456 
152 

617 



361 
8 
1 

397 

121 

23 

4 

118 
At the remaining seventy-three places. 

Comrrassioned officers 15S 

Enlisted men 3,793 

Citizens ' 73 

Unknown i>S 



.loJinson's Island, Ohio. 

Commissioned officers 

Enlisted men 

Citizens 



4,052 



WJiole number of rebel prisoners buried. 



Commissioned officers, 
Enlisted men 

(Mtizens 

Unknown 



Total . 



45.5 
28,490 
481 

72(J 

.30,152 



Of the 36,401 deaths of Union prisoners in rebel hands, 15,816 of 
their graves, or nearly one-half, cannot be designated, while out of the 
30,152 deaths of confederate prisoners in Federal hands, 726 graves, or 
one in forty-three, cannot be designated by name, though they are all 
properly made, while those of the Union prisoners are not. 

The losses of confederate prisoners held in Federal prisons in propor- 
tion to the number captured may be stated thus : 

Number captured, (as shown by the report of March 1, 1869,) .176 igg 

Addition on mortuary record \ 3'37S 

Total 479,547 



/ 

LiBRflRV OF CONGRESS 



16 




013 786 674 2 



Of these there died wJiile prisoners: Ollicers: 1 iiioS; enlisted — 1 in Hi; 
citizens — 1 in 17. 

I'^seaped : Otliecrs— I in 27.']; enlisted— 1 in -G"). 

Joini'd our army : OfUecrs— 1 ; enlisted— 1 in HS. 

Released at elose of war: Olliccrs— 1 in G of all captured ; enlisted— I in H. 

Proi3ortion of rebel graves marked properly : 42 in 4o. 

War arouses the baser passions of our nature, and in all ages i)rison- 
crs of Avar have suffered at the hands of bad men. One of the first 
duties of a Christian civilization is to prevent Avar, where it can be done 
with due respect to the honor of the people and protection to their per- 
sonal liberties and enjoyment of property, and, M'hen wars must needs 
bc) to ameliorate the condition of those engaged in it. In the early 
ages the fate of the prisoner of war was death; but this among th' 
more civilized nations (eitlier for gain or a growing humainty) wi 
changed to enslavement; which again, during the )ears()f cl;ivalry, from 
the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, advanced to the custom of ran- 
som in money or property; but a iailure to pay remanded the captive 
to slavery or death, liansom has now given way to parole or exchange 
during war, and release at its close. I hope that the high moral, 
political and military position of our people will enable our government 
to procure the adoption in the laws of nations of a provision that captives 
in war shall not be i)ersonally retained as })risoners, but shall, under 
flags of truce, be returned at the earliest possible time to their own lines 
or vessels, and paroled until properly exchanged, so that the books oi 
the commissioners of exchange of the respective belligerents shall de- 
termine the relative advantages in captives, and thus the horrors and 
sacrifices of prison life prevented. 

1 had two purposes in examining, under congressional sanction, the 
subject of the treatment of prisoners of war. One was to give the peo- 
ple a record of the sufferings and sacrifices of those prisoners, and expose 
the great personal wrongs needlessly and recklessly imposed on them ; 
the other was to lay the foundation to establish in our international 
laws a universal system of paroles, and a prohibition of the personal re- 
tention in confinement of prisoners of war ; so that the horrors of Calcutta, 
the enormities of British India, the severities of French Algeria, the 
cruelties of British jirison ships, and the combined atrocities ])raeticed 
by the rebels at Andersonville, J^elle Isle, Ivibby, Salisbury, Flo!'"Uce. 
Tyler, and other prisons of the conlederacy may not be re-enacted, and 
i-ivilization put to shame by its own professed supporters; that our hu- 
manity may not be lost when most needed, or religion become a mockery 
and by-word in its failure to impress man with charity for his fellows. 






I'KIXTED AND STEUEOTVrED KY JUDD & DETWEILER. 

('firnrr of Prnim. Arriui,r and Elrvnth iStrccL 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




013 786 674 2 






